Rookstool, James (1846 - 1873)

In civilian life, James Rookstool (1846-1873) was a baker. As a 17 year old, he was mustered in at Philadelphia on January 25, 1864, for a 3 year enlistment as a private in Company D of the 95th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. In a skirmish near Charlestown, Virginia, on August 21, 1864, he received a gunshot wound to the left side of the head fracturing his skull, which resulted in constant headaches, dizziness, and loss of hearing in his left ear. Sent first to a hospital at Sandy Hook near Harpers Ferry, then to a hospital in Baltimore, he finally came to Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia. He returned to his regiment in October, and, on October 19, 1864, while in the Shenandoah Valley, contracted a severe cold which settled in his lungs as consumption. He was not treated at any hospital for this cold. He was honorably discharged at Halls Hill, Virginia, on July 7, 1865. According to a doctor's report in his service records, James never fully recovered from the head wound and the consumption. The doctor attending him in his last illness at Norristown on July 3, 1873, believed the consumption originated from the exposure and hardships of military service. Ruckstool was 26 years old when he died, and was survived by a wife.